Careful You
by canarygold
Summary: Unlucky Thirteen has always had a countdown on her back, as the clock winds down she seeks out Chase as he continues to take over the position vacated by House years prior. Will he be able to fulfill another man's promise?


She first shows up about 4 years after the funeral. It's not that the funeral was some sort of emotional marker in his life, but it is the last time he sees her.

It's late, he thinks idly that she's crazy to expect him to be here, he could be at the hospital, he could have moved... he wonders if he is predictable or if she's just lucky. But then she stumbles in all disoriented, the first time her head involuntarily jerks he relents; she is not lucky.

"What's going on Remy?" He asks as he slides a cup of reheated, two day old coffee in her hand.

She takes a sip and puts it down quickly, almost frightfully.

There's a beat, she looks at him, he rubs his face and then she bursts into tears.

"He was supposed to kill me." she wails and he understands all at once.

He doesn't have work the next day so they stay up late and as she sobers up, her tongue tightens and he is pulling and pulling until they fall asleep in his room.

She is gone when he wakes.

\\\\\\\\\\\

Strangely enough, it's her mind that goes faster than her body. She begs him to keep it a secret, their arrangement, so he does. It's better for him in the long run as well.

After 3 months, one night she comes into his room and wakes him up, her body attempting to slip into all the tiny spaces of his own.

He thinks it's a dream at first, "Rem? What?"

She manages to sneak two small timid kisses in before he becomes coherent and stops abrubtly, "No."

Her face crumples, "I... can't... not because I don't want to... but because... you aren't even..."

She had a bad episode that evening, he feels like this would be taking advantage of her, doesn't even know if she's currently in her right mind. And then it's like she's read his thoughts because she touches his chin softly and says

"It's me...I'm me right now."

His reply is trembly, small, "Oh... still... I shouldn't...we shouldn't"

She whispers into his mouth while crawling atop him, "I don't want to go all the way... I just.. need you... this...you're all I have."

He wants to confess in that moment but stays quiet. _I don't really have anyone else either..._

_\\\\\\\\\\\\\_

It is far, far from regular, and though it brings down a barrier between them henceforth, they only sleep together a handful of times. It stops short more often than it even starts.

Sometimes he wants to tell her to stop.

Not because he doesn't want to, but because he wants it _too_ much, she is slipping away and will soon be gone. And he will be alone... still wanting more.

But he doesn't think it fair to guilt trip a dying woman.

Even one that he's developed feelings for.

\\\\\\\\\\\\

He withdraws at work, if Eric notices they skirt around it and Chase is relieved because he doesn't think he can hide much anymore. At home he begins to lay awake at night; afraid. Her moments of still, lucid being morph into a proverbial oasis that he marches on in search of.

He is more afraid with each passing night that he won't be able to let her go (on purpose) when the time comes – when she asks.

When the knock comes, it's very early – he's getting ready for work. He opens the door, a croissant in his mouth, his tie mid windsor in his left hand.

His emotions run the full gamut – twice - and in the end he settles on mild irritation because, dammit he wishes people would just stop showing up at his apartment.

Maybe he should move when this is all over.

Instead he lets Greg House in.

\\\\\\\\\\\\

He looks different; yet the same. Hair grown out, the ends touch the nape of his neck and the tops of his ears. He's dyed it a light brown, She doesn't know if this is done solely for the purposes of getting back in unnoticed (like the contacts he dispenses with in front of both of them – dramatically of course)

Aside from that he looks the same, but with an added aura of weight. His steps are slower, his eyes heavier, he moves like he has the ghost of his best friend tied around his ankle.

She rushes to hug him, tightly, silently because these days she never knows when she will slip away. He hugs her back through her twitches and flails.

"Can't believe how quickly we're to the point of hugging." he jokes about the elephant in the room while Chase picks up some of her empty dish ware around the room.

Before she can respond he says dryly, "I reckon she'd have slapped you already if she was sure that she wouldn't miss."

This time she laughs through her tears.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

After her first bad night following his return they close her door after she falls asleep and stand in silence. House sizes him up silently and he just waits, knowing...

"You wouldn't have been able to do it would you?"

"I don't think so no."

"I've been spying on the both of you for two months now; I **know** you can't."

And so, it turns out, he is here to save the both of them.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

He does eventually move, and it is before she goes. He needs to be further from the hospital to lower the risk of detection House advises.

She wants to see a garden.

He wants a rewind button.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"It's ok that you're letting him do it."

"Do you understand why?"

"Yes. And I'm sorry that we don't get to go down that road because of me."

"We're on a road now and that's better than nothing."

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Her funeral is small, silent, still.

At the end House comes to stand next to him and they look at her headstone.

"So I'm trying to decide where I'm heading to next..."

Chase looks at him from the side of his face without turning his head, "I'm not Wilson."

"True but you're not me either... ...no I think you're somewhere in between."

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

_Promise me, this moment, when you think of me, this is what you'll remember_ is what she says 5 months in when he takes her to Napa Valley for a long weekend. It's night time, they've slipped into the pool at the small resort and it's raining ever so slightly when she wraps her legs around his waist and holds on to him under the water as he wades into the deep end.

He kisses her to seal his debt.

That night is one of the few times he doesn't stop her, and when it's over she says, _promise me this whole night. This is how you'll remember._


End file.
